Mechanical merchant



July 19, 1949.

w. H. KNOTT ET AL MECHANICAL MERCHANT 5 'Sheetsheet 1 Filed Sept. 30, 1946 w. H KNOT'T H. M. READ INVENTOR,

I ATTORNEY Jfily 19, 1949. w. H. KNOTT ET AL MECHANICAL MERCHANT Filed Sept. 30, 1946 5 Sheet-Sheet 2 [IIJ/IIIIlI/HHIJJJ J f? H NOTT READ.

INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY y 1949- w. H. KNOTT ET AL MECHANICAL MERCHANT 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. 50, 1946 TTORNEY Patented July 19, 1949 UNITED s'rnrns PATENT OFFICE MECHANLCAL William Knott and Henry Bead, Longview, 'Iex.

Application September 30, 1946, Serial No. 100.30%.

Glainrs.v 1

This. invention relates to mechanical merchandising machines and more. particularly to ma! chines for vending packaged merchandise such as: hosiery neckties, handkerchiefs and the like.

The principal object,- of the invention is to. provide a. medium through; which staple, ready to use merchandise may be displayed for the benefit of and purchase y the p blic without necessity for personal salesmanshipi The invention opens. an avenue for sales of. much needed merchandise at poin s remote from their normal source. such. as in hotel lobbies, train and bus depots, airports, and many other. desirable locations yet. Where the required merchandise is. not. immedi ately available atpcpular prices.

vAnother object of the invention is to. provide. a merchanise vending machine in which the vending mechanism is. housed in a cabinet. portions. of which are embraced by a translucent outer coveringor plastic or like material, concealing. fluorescent tubes which afiford' yarn colored illumination. subdued by he ranslucin of the covering.

still another object of the. invention is to provide a simplified vending mechanism so. designed and constructed that packages or boxes containing merchandise are singly and selectively propelled' to a position of accessibility to a purchaser from the top of. one ofv a plurality of parallel and superimposed columns. By virtue of such an arrangement, the merchandise is elevated to a point of discharge most convenient to the purchaser which requires no stooping or reaching, yet providing a comparatively large storage space for merchandise.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a moving display atop the cabinet, containing merchandise representative of that stored in the machine and from which choice of articles are made by number or other identifying means, preparatory to actuating the machine to acquire the selected article, which is effected by operating a plunger bearing an identification corresponde ing to that on the display, after depositing into the machine a coin or coins of; predetermined denominations and value.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention. hasfurther reference. to certai features of accomplishment which. will become apparent as the description proceeds ak n n connection with the accompanying drawings wherein;

Fig re 1. is a front. perspective view of. a ma chine constructed according to th present in! vention.

Figure 2 is an end view in vertical section wi h portions broken away.

g re 3 isa fragmentary rear perspe ive view of one of the vending units. 7

Figure 4 is a plan view of the arrangement as shown in Figure 3,v and Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the package dicharaine mechanism p r se,. at midnositicn in its cprating ycl Continuin with a more detailed des ription or the drawings. reference, is primarily made to. Figure. l... di closing the cabine and, in which numeral l0. denotes a base. on which is superim= p sed secti ns A and B which may he. roierred hcreinat r as. upper and. lower. s ct ons .resne ively... althou h the v nding m chanism. as. it. w ll he pr s ntly learn d, is identical in each s c: tiqn. At t hottoin top and midway between the top and bottom of the cabinet are st ps oi molding l l which encircle the cabinet an are not. only ecorative. but also serve. a am n ing tor a covering i2 oi t ans ucent material. such. as Plex gl s or oth r plastic. netween this coverng and; the actual walls l3 oi the. machine. are. lass tub s. M... containing electrically excitable as s b d tlng var1=colo ed illumination wh h is subdued by frosting the inner suriac oi the covering it. or by other methods. r nd ri g. the

covering translucent. Animation oi this. illinns;v nation may be. simu at d by alternately energizin the tubes.

he mold ngs I! at he. t p and m dsection of the. cab n t are provid d wi h onga ed ope ngs :5 xtending substantially the wid h oi. the abin ach opening being em rac d. y a frame d sposed. inwardly oi he ranslu nt cover or shell; !2 t define a g up cl. m chandise cutlets each lac ng cove ed by a nap. l whi h are hi ged a ongthelr tops at 18' Fig.- 2) to. w ng ou wardly y artons '9 r merchan e b g thrust t re s nst n a. manne to be. presently plained. H ev r. th e flap os discourage pilfering by preventing instruments from being surreptitiously thrust into the article magazines in efiorts to withdraw cartons therefrom.

Superimposed upon the top of the upper section A of the cabinet is, a merchandise display con,- si'sting primarily of a base 20' journaled in which are twovertical shafts 2 only one of which is shown. Mounted, on these shafts adjacent the. ease. 2 is n nu arly grooved pulley Z2 nd adjacent the upper end of the shaits are mounted smaller pulleys 23. A belt 24 surrounds pulleys While a belt 5 surro nds pu leys 23- R cen= aoles 26 and 1 re. moun d on he belts 2d and .1111 he manne ho n to r cei e t e lower nd upp r ends re pecti ely oi cartons 8 ada ed o be p n i p aying mec and se plac d therein but not shown in the drawing. Obviously the d fference in size f. t e u leys and 23 educes he spacing o the. ea s oi the e ts. hence th artons '9 w l be slightly inclined f om the ve ic l, a pos ion most ui ed to he is on oi one. making a s ection 1 7cm me chandi e dis=v play d n. he. c rt ns it. It is apparent tha vario s. mechanisms may be. employe to cause the pulleys 22 and 23 to revolve to move the merchandise slowly about the display, but for V purposes of illustration, a': small .low' speed' motor 28 rotates the shaft 2| through themedium of a belt 29 engaging a pulley 30 mounted on the shaft 2 l The described display mechanism isenclosed, in a housing 3| of transparent material whose of a detent 52, pivoted at d to the carriage". The forward end of the detent 52 enters a recess a 53in'the periphery of the'jl'obe 46 of; the arm 43 to lock the latter against premature displacement. A spring 54 connects the detent 52 and carriage 41 in a manner to return the detent to walls are inclined in the manner shown andfff which is provided with an elongated top 32. A

panel 33 may be provided and suitablylilluininated to exhibit the character of merchandise contained in the machine; the manufacturers trade-mark; instructions for operating the machine and other indicia. i 1

Referring now to themechanismjfor ejecting article containing cartons from the machine; it will beobserved in Figures 2 and 3 that the cartons I9 are arranged in stacks or columns of which there are s'everal in parallel relationship in both sections A' and B; In order'that the uppermost carton of each column may be ej ected', it is" necessary that the entire column be continuously urged upwardly. This is accomplished by a coil spring 34', one of which is disposed vertically at the rear of, each vending unit, as.

shown in Figures '2 and 3, althoughthe spring has been deleted from'the lowermostunit shown: in Figure 2; This. spring 34 is anchored at 35 to a plate 36 and to its upper end is attachedto the.

bight' aof a small wirecabl'e 31,the' ends of the latter being. anchored at bfto' the inverted V- sha'p'd sides38 of a carton supporting platform 39, after passing over s'malljsh'eaves 4U, appropriately arranged in the top of the magazine frame 4! to disposeits leads perpendicularly to' the platform 39. Itis apparent that the cable 31 is under tension imposed by the spring 34 at all times to maintain an upward urgeon the column fofcartons Ii!v The carton ejecting mechanism consists of an{ arm 43 which is oscillataoly mounted on a rod 44 which extends the full width of the machine to accommodate similararms in adjacentmaga zines on the same plane. To the forward [end of arm 43 is attached a plate 45 at right angles engaged position with the recess 53 when displaced.

- 'Toactuate magazine whoseplunger 56 is pivoted at e to the lower end of a curved arm 51, the latter being pivoted at f to the magazine frame, which pivotal point, itwill be observed, is located close to the'solenoid to insure adequate displacement of the upper end of arm 51. Immediately'abov'e the pivot point 1, parallel guides 58 are mounted to restrict lateral movementof the arm, yet al lows'ready withdrawal thereof from the rear when filling the magazines with to be presently explained.

Slidably disposed on the'top iof theiuppermost' carton I9 is a s'hoe59, disposed parallel with and under the tail portion of thelever 49, which, as

thereto which normally covers the. opening42l through which cartons are ejected. Thus it serves: as an auxiliary to the flap door l1 topreclu'de pilfering of cartons from the machine.

.The opposite end of the. arm 4 3,has a lobe 46 to" which is pivoted at 0, one endof a carriage. 41,.sllpported by a roller 48 which bears upon.

the uppermostcarton l9 before and during its ejection and 'subsequentlympon the next succeeding carton,'a s exemplified in the lower portion of Figure 2.

complementary to the arm 43 and carriage 41 is a lever 49, .rockably suspended on a trans verse rod 50 which likewise extends the full width of themachine to similarly support analogous levers in adjacent magazines. Thefforward end of the lever 19 is curved at'5l and. before and during the ejecting operation 'bears'upon the tail apparent in'Figures 3 and 4, is. loopedat to receive the upper end of thecurved arm' 51.

The shoe 59 is bifurcatedat 6| to embrace the curved arm'51, to which it is pivoted as shown. A rounded protuberance GZis' formedtransversely across theupper face of'the shoe 59 to engage a'roller 63carried by the arm" 49 approximately midway ofits ends. Moreover, the shoe 59 has affixed transversely to its underside a bar 64 whose function is to bear against therear end of the uppermost carton .IB and thrust the same towards the front of the cabinet and partially through the discharge opening I5 thereof, in the manner shownin Figure2 in section B.

To fill the' magazine'withcartons containing merchandise, the pin' serving to pivotally attach the shoe .59 to the curved. arm 51 is removed and thearm may be releasedrfrom the loop 60 of arm 49 by simply lifting the latter. The pivot pin 9 of the solenoid plunger is removed; allowing the 'arm51 to be moved downwardly. cartonsfthen may be'fpassed endwise into. the magazine and.

onto the platform 39, byvirtue of the cut away portions 65 (Fig. 3) in the rear vertical members of the magazine frame 4 l.- After replenishing a depleted magazine, the arm 51 is restored to;

its original operative position.

In operation, an article of merchandise is first chosen from thedisplay and a coin or coins of predetermined valueare deposited into the chute '66- (Fig; 1)." A plunger- 61, properly identified with the articles of merchandise displayed, is selected. according to. identification and is pressed inwardly, which operation energizes the solenoid 55 of the magazine with which the plungeris-associated.' r Upon energization of the magnet 55,- plunger 5$ is attracted inwardly to actuate the curved arm 51 on its pivot *f; The upper end of the arm will move inwardly to a certain extent without displacing arm 49 because of the freedom permitted by the loop 60 in thetail portion thereof. 7 However, shoe 59 is advanced thereby, bringing its plate 64 against the rear end of the uppermost carton I9, thrusting the same outwardly through the discharge opening 42 and into a position of accessibility to thej operator of the machine.

the described mechanism, a solenoid 55 is mounted on the plate 36 rearwardly of the cartons in the manner ejection of the carton, the rear portion of the lever 49 is elevated, causing the curved forward end 5| to come to bear on the tail of the detent 52, raising its forward end out of locking engagement with the recess 53 in the lobe 46 of arm 43. The arm is then released to the action of a spring 68 which elevated the same, raising the plate 45 carried thereby, out of the path of the carton being ejected.

Upon deenergization of magnet 55, which takes i place immediately after completion of the foregoing operation, a spring 69, which bears against the curved arm 51, returns the latter to its original starting position, bringing with it the shoe 59, whose forward end rides off the rear end of the ejected carton to resume a renewed position on the carton next below.

After the patron withdraws from the machine the carton partially protruding therefrom, action of the loading spring 34 causes the next succeeding carton to move into vending position as the column is moved upwardly. The top carton will engage the roller 48 of the carriage 41, moving it from the position shown in the lower portion of Figure 2 to that shown in the upper position thereof. This operation will automatically cause the arm 43 to resume operative position and the detent, in like manner will resume interlocked relationship with the recess 53 in the lobe 46 of the arm 43. Lever 49 will be in a position whereby its curved end will again bear upon the tail of the detent to actuate the same upon renewed operation of the machine.

The coin controlled mechanism including various electrical circuits for energizing the solenoids 55 of the several merchandise magazines, has been deleted from the disclosure since these features are conventional and are not necessarily a part of the invention.

Manifestly, the construction as shown and described is capable of some modification and such modification as may be construed to fall within the scope and meaning of the appended claims is also considered to be within the spirit and intent of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a merchandise vending machine, a vending mechanism including a magazine for article containing cartons, said magazine having a carton discharge opening at its top, a pivotally displaceable arm carrying a plate on one end normally closing said opening, means exerting a continuous upward force on the bottom of the column of cartons in each of said magazines, a second arm rearwardly of said magazine pivoted to oscillate in a vertical plane, a shoe pivoted to said arm and slidable on the uppermost carton in said magazine and having a protuberance thereon, a lever pivoted intermediate its ends having a roller engageable with the protuberance on said shoe, an electro-magnet for actuating said second lever and said shoe, means carried by said shoe for exerting a force against the rear of the uppermost of the cartons in said magazine in a direction towards the discharge opening thereof and means intermediate said first arm and said lever and actuated by the latter to simultaneously displace said closing plate to dispose said carton in a position of accessibility exteriorly of said cabinet.

2. In a merchandise vendin machine, a vending mechanism including a carton containing magazine havin a carton discharge opening at the top thereof, a pivotally displaceable arm carrying a closure for said opening, means for exerting a continuous upward force against the bottom of the column of cartons in said magazine to dispose the uppermost carton in said column in a position for discharge through said opening, a second arm pivotally mounted rearwardly of said magazine, a shoe connected to said latter arm for sliding displacement on the uppermost of said cartons and having means thereon for exerting a forward thrust on the rear of said uppermost carton, electro-magnetic means for actuating said second arm and means actuated by said shoe to eiiect operation of said first arm to displace said magazine discharge closure.

A merchandise vending mechanism including a magazine containing merchandise filled cartons,

said magazine having a carton discharge opening at its top, an arm oscillatable on a horizontal axis above the uppermost carton in said magazine and having thereon a closure for said opening, means for elevating the column of cartons to dispose the uppermost thereof in position for discharge through said opening, a lever pivot-ed rearwardly of said arm adapted to actuate said arm, a second arm pivoted rearwardly of said magazine, a shoe connected to said second arm having means thereon for actuating said lever, means also carried by said shoe for exerting an expelling force on the uppermost carton and electro-magnetically operated means for actuating said second arm to operate said first arm and said shoe for simultaneously opening said closure and for expellin said uppermost carton.

4. A merchandise vending mechanism including a magazine having a discharge opening at its upper end, a closure for said opening, a column of merchandise containing cartons in each of said magazines, a pivoted arm above said column for displacing said closure, means yieldingly supporting the column of cartons in said magazine to dispose the uppermost carton opposite said discharge opening, a shoe slidable on said uppermost carton, means actuated by said shoe for operating said pivoted arm, means also carried by said shoe for ejecting said uppermost carton through said opening and electro-magnetic means for operating said shoe.

5. In a machine for vending merchandise containing cartons, a vending mechanism including a carton containing magazine having a discharge opening at its top, a closure therefor, a pivoted arm for displacing said closure, means for imposing a constant upward thrust on the lowermost of the cartons in said magazine to dispose the uppermost carton for ejection through said opening, a slidable shoe, means actuated by said shoe to operate said pivoted arm for displacing said closure, means carried by said shoe for ejecting said uppermost carton through said opening, electromagnetic means for actuating said shoe and means for reestablishing said closure and shoe in operative positions upon de-energization of said electro-magnetic means.

WILLIAM H. KNOTT. HENRY M. READ.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,509,249 Miles Sept. 23, 1924 1,997,079 Reimers Apr. 9, 1935 

